From Val Camonica to Paris

Having moved to Paris a few years ago, Stefano Grassi is moving into various expressive fields including comics, illustration, engraving and art printing. The latter in particular represents an important part of his work today. Let’s get to know him better.

Hi Stefano and welcome to Picame. Do you want to introduce yourself to our readers?

I was born and raised in a small town in Val Camonica. I began studying art early but only came to illustration in recent years. In Bergamo I studied decoration, in Bologna I studied comics and after moving to France I started with illustration. In general, what interests me is telling stories, whether they are contained in a single image, in a comic book or told by works of art framed in someone’s home.

Speaking of comics, do you want to talk to us about that autobiographical story whose protagonist is a work of art by Christo?

The Floating Piers experience was truly a watershed moment for me. Having been born and raised on Lake Iseo, seeing it under the spotlight of the entire world was an electrifying experience. First I worked with the teams who covered the different streets with orange tarpaulin chosen by Christo. Then during the two weeks in which the work was open to the public I worked at night on the bridge covering different roles. I had a question I was looking for an answer to and which guided all my work: how do you build a work that is considered a work of ART? The need to make a comic for the master’s degree in Bologna and the collaboration with Inuit did the rest and allowed me to create the book ‘What remains of Christo? How to Build a Work of Art’ an autofiction that encapsulates key moments from my experience.

I saw that you collaborate with RIVA illustration , an agency where the presence of Italian illustrators is very strong.

I met RIVA and Fiammetta Ghedini (one of the two founders of the agency) a few years ago, she proposed collaborating on a project that didn’t end but since then we’ve had other opportunities to work together! Elisa Caroli and Il Pistrice (Francesca Protopapa) are friends who helped me a lot when I moved here to France!

In your commissioned works you have addressed the now omnipresent theme of artificial intelligence. Have you already formed a personal opinion of the impact it will have on the human future and, above all, on the future of illustration?

In reality I’m a bit late and I’ve never tried to create an image with a generator yet, but I’m positive at heart and I think that AI will be like digital, sooner or later we’ll all integrate it into our flow working to remain competitive. They will certainly take some of the more impersonal and repetitive jobs but the real difference will always be made by the brain and eye of the illustrator and the industry will continue to exist.

Do you remember your first drawing?

I don’t remember my first drawing but I remember that as a child I had a beautiful illustrated book with all kinds of chickens and I know that I drew them often. I still had a chicken coop at home at the time but ours weren’t as beautiful as the colorful ones in my book!

Your mountain views have an intensity and breadth that express a great passion and respect for the natural environment.

Until I was 18 I always lived in Val Camonica, the mountain I knew was the one I used to see every day, the one where we passed to go to the lake to swim in the summer, the one with the farmhouses where we went to party and the one where we went on family excursions on Sundays. I would say that the mountains are the thing I miss most now that I live in the city, perhaps this is why the only real series of illustrations I have ever made and which I still continue today is a collection of mountains.

I saw that you approached lithography with excellent results! How was the experience “à rebours” from digital to a technique linked in the collective imagination to the belle époque and the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec?

A few years ago I started engraving again working with some ateliers here in Paris. I did some etching and carborundum with the ARTE printing house and I had the opportunity to make a lithograph with Anthèse, a specialized printing house for illustrators and cartoonists. I loved the experience, for someone like me who quickly got used to digital, going back to working by hand with limited time is a challenge. In drawing a matrix on stone where nothing can be erased, I went back to working in layers, timidly adding graphite, one level at a time. I found myself rediscovering a caution in doing that I had somewhat lost and which perhaps helped me refine my drawing. The idea is to continue with my print production and little by little create thematic collections!

Three artists that you would like to recommend to our readers.

Three artists I follow a lot these days are Irene Servillo , Bill Bragg  and Thomas Hayman .

Besides illustration and comics, do you have any other passion or dream?

I have to be honest, apart from art and the mountains I don’t have many passions, something that I want to do one day when I return to Italy is to be a municipal councilor but I will only think about all this later. 

Is there an artist or character from the past or present that you would like to meet in person?

I would like to meet Félix Vallotton . Vallotton, who was an incredible painter, was also a keen engraver, unlike his paintings, his prints often deal with social themes and do so with only black and white. For him, printing was not an extension of his painting, in his prints he worked in such a different way that it almost seemed like another artist, perhaps I exaggerate a little but I would have liked to get to know him to delve deeper into this duality of his.

A work goal that you would like to achieve within a year ?

I actually have a comic story in my head, I don’t know if I’ll really be able to draw it all in a year, I think I’d be happy with having a well-done storyboard! However, it is a Mountain story where I deal mainly with male friendship.